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Stock depicted the Gorham boy as a playful, energetic child, yet placed him in a dark, plain setting without the brightly patterned floor that typifies his portraits of children. Included in the compositions are a number of characteristic props such as the boy's toy hammer and the ball and whip in the foreground. The piece of string loosely wound around the arm of the chair adds an air of informality to this likeness.
Exhibition History“Joseph Whiting Stock,” Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, February 4, 1977- March 20, 1977.
“Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters and Society, 1790-1850,” Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA. April 1, 1992 – January 5, 1993.
“Little Women, Little Men: Folk Portraits of Children from Fenimore Art Museum,” Clark Institute, Williamstown, MA, September 22, 2006 – February 4, 2007; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, July 2, 2005 – October 16, 2005; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, October 29, 2005 – December 31, 2005.
“Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 5, 2016 – February 26, 2017.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, New York, 1987), p. 143, ill. 85.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic, (exh.cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), p. 33, no. 78, ill. 78.
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, Joseph Whiting Stock, 1815-1855, (exh. cat., February 4-March 20, 1977. Northampton, MA), The Museum, 1977: 29, 54; ill. 23 on page 54; and fig. 23 on page 29.
Artist
Joseph Whiting Stock
(1815 - 1855)
Subject
Edward W. Gorham
(died 1844)
Edward W. Gorham
Date1844
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 29 1/8 × 24 1/4 in. (74 × 61.6 cm)
Object numberN0266.1961
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThis somber colored, posthumous portrait of a child seated on a floor and playfully driving tacks into a chair seat has long been known by the title "The Young Hammerer." The child has been identified, however, as Edward W. Gorham of Springfield, Massachusetts. The portrait's inscribed death date of February 19, 1844 matches the known date of the Gorham boy's death, and corresponds with Stock's listing in his journal of a portrait of "J. W. Gorham's boy deceased" painted in Springfield in early 1844. Edward W. Gorham was the son of Joseph W. and Laura N. Rogers Gorham of Springfield. According to Stock's journal, Mr. Gorham paid the artist the sum of twelve dollars for this likeness of his deceased child.
Stock depicted the Gorham boy as a playful, energetic child, yet placed him in a dark, plain setting without the brightly patterned floor that typifies his portraits of children. Included in the compositions are a number of characteristic props such as the boy's toy hammer and the ball and whip in the foreground. The piece of string loosely wound around the arm of the chair adds an air of informality to this likeness.
Exhibition History“Joseph Whiting Stock,” Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA, February 4, 1977- March 20, 1977.
“Meet Your Neighbors: New England Portraits, Painters and Society, 1790-1850,” Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA. April 1, 1992 – January 5, 1993.
“Little Women, Little Men: Folk Portraits of Children from Fenimore Art Museum,” Clark Institute, Williamstown, MA, September 22, 2006 – February 4, 2007; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, July 2, 2005 – October 16, 2005; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, October 29, 2005 – December 31, 2005.
“Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America,” American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY, October 5, 2016 – February 26, 2017.
BibliographyPaul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association, (Cooperstown, New York, 1987), p. 143, ill. 85.
Agnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic, (exh.cat., Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), p. 33, no. 78, ill. 78.
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, Joseph Whiting Stock, 1815-1855, (exh. cat., February 4-March 20, 1977. Northampton, MA), The Museum, 1977: 29, 54; ill. 23 on page 54; and fig. 23 on page 29.
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